Q. When did Postcode started tell us about the history... Mikie: It all started when Marie asked me to write some songs with her, about 10 years ago. At that time it wasn't really planned to be a band or anything, but gradually over the next two years we wrote and recorded what would become our first album, 'Zebracore'. It was only after we'd finished making that record that we decided to recruit more musicians and turn Postcode into a proper band.

Q: Who are your influences? Mikie: I always find this a hard question to honestly answer. I listen to a hell of a lot of music, but it can be hard to pinpoint which artists have really influenced the way I make music, especially in more recent years, when I generally strive not to copy others. That said, there are definitely some bands that have changed the way I perceive music forever, like Sonic Youth, Pixies, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, Low, etc.

Marie: For Postcode it was Nanaki.

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time… Mikie: That's something that I really can't do. There are so many great records that I love and narrowing them down to just 5 is impossible. Hell, I'd struggle to choose 50! So this is not my definitive favourite albums of all time, but a list of the first 5 that come to mind, albums that have had a big impact on me in some way.

Q. How do you feel playing alive? Mikie: I love playing live, though recently it's something that we sadly don't do anywhere near as much as I'd like.

Marie: Once I'm on stage and I've got the first line out I'm fine. Prior to a gig though, usually for about a week right up until it actually starts I'm a wreck and a nightmare to live with, worrying about whether people will turn up, whether they'll like us, what the sound will be like, whether we'll get to soundcheck properly, stuff like that. And about an hour before we play I'm usually physically ill.

Q. How do you describe Postcode´s sounds? Mikie: Zebracore! Although that term began as something of a joke, I quickly realised that it describes our music pretty well. Like the black and white stripes of a zebra our music deals in a lot of opposites – male and female, quiet and loud, melodic and noisy, etc. Our records have tended to differ a little from each other. 'Zebratronic' was kind of our shoegaze album, for example; 'The ZebrATP EP' was somewhat slowcore and 'Year Of The Zebra -Part I' was maybe more indiepop. Overall though I'd say we fit somewhere into the Alternative Rock genre, but I definitely prefer to call it zebracore.

Marie: Shiny

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs? Mikie: It can differ from record to record. 'Zebracore' and 'Zebratronic', as well as 'The Post-Zebracore EP', were essentially written as they were being recorded, with Marie later writing her vocals to what I had created. With the full-band stuff we've usually written and rehearsed the material before we attempt to record it, so we all know what we're doing beforehand. I'd love us to be able to record more or less live as a band, but as I don't have the ability to do that I usually record basic guide tracks along with vocals from Marie, then we record the drums, bass and other instruments and vocals. Sometimes the vocals come last, other times I'll overdub extra instruments after Marie has finished her parts, usually just little lead parts or percussion. Aside from a couple of exceptions, I've recorded and mixed all of our material to date and it looks like that will continue in the future.

Marie: This is the easy bit. Mikie does it all and I just have to sing, although I do assist with the mixing and mastering – which I don't like, I genuinely can't hear the subtle differences that are being applied as the process goes on, I have rubbish ears and permanent tinnitus (medical, not music related).

Q. Which new bands do you recommend? Mikie: Can I recommend myself? I've also got an instrumental/post-rock project called Nanaki which is releasing a new album on New Year's Eve through our label Small Bear Records. My favourite current bands from here on the Isle of Man are Post War Stories and The Clown Calls For War, they're definitely worth checking out. Andy Falkous from Mclusky and Future Of The Left, two brilliant bands, just released a record as Christian Fitness, which I would highly recommend to anyone with good taste in music.

Marie: Paul Thomas Saunders, Withered Hand, The Spook School (although they've been releasing stuff for a while they're becoming 'bigger' at the moment), The Very Most, Royal Landscaping Society. Probably loads more that I've forgotten about. Oh yes, John Grant, who is neither new or old, just brilliant – if you never buy anything else again buy his music.

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version? Mikie: We've done a few covers over the years actually, mostly just Marie and I, on record or in acoustic sets live. As a full band we recorded two full-band tracks for a Pavement tribute that Filthy Little Angels put out back in 2010 and for a while we used to play 'Shadowplay' by Joy Division in our live sets. Two years ago we were actually planning to record an album of cover versions, mainly just for fun, but sadly our drummer at that time never recorded his parts, so the project just sort of died. We have since released a few of the covers that Marie and I had finished, as bonus tracks for people that buy our CDs. One song that I would love to finish recording properly is 'You're Not Here', from the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack.

Marie: Pretty Flamingo by Manfred Mann

Q: What´s the plans for future.... Mikie: We've got a new EP ready for release, 'Year Of The Zebra – Part II', which is probably going to come out on my birthday in February. It's a lot darker than Part I, and contains some of my favourite ever Postcode songs. We're also hoping to get started on recording the next proper album, this time with the full five-piece band (the last several releases have been just Marie and I). I've been waiting a LONG time to get a lot of these songs recorded, so I really hope that 2015 will be the year that we finally do that. I love the way the band plays this material and I think that it's going to be a great album, so I'm very much looking forward to that.

Marie: In addition to what Mikie has said we're hoping to make some more videos too. The ones so far have mostly been for the tracks that just involved the two of us so the plan is to do some for the new album with the whole band, hopefully concept ones as well as performance ones.

Q: Any parting words? Mikie: Yes, thanks a lot for talking to us and for listening to our music, we really appreciate it.

Marie: My world explodes (misheard lyrics from a Stereolab song).***Thanks